Big 3 Copywriter Traits to Go from Good to Great

In our line of work, there are no diplomas, certificates, or league tables to tell you when you’ve made the grade.

There’s no board of examiners to say when you’ve progressed from competent to craftsman.

Sure, praise from clients and conversion stats helps.

But if you want to feel confident you’ve got the chops to compete with the best, there are six key copywriter traits to embed in your playbook:

1. Confidence You Can Deliver Results

Confidence doesn’t come from posting your open rates in Facebook and waiting to be applauded with emojis.

Confidence means knowing you can get the job done.

It comes from knowing how to find the unmet desires in the marketplace…knowing how to research to dig up that golden USP that will bring in a rush of customers…and knowing how to drill for riches in niches where no one else is looking.

The bottom line is this: When you’re a great copywriter, going from discovery call to dominating a market is no longer a mystery. You’ve got the skills to dial in on what needs to be done, and you know what results clients can expect on launch day.

2.  Knowing the Customer Like a Friend

Good copywriters know to turn features into red hot bullets.

Great copywriters know how to aim those bullets square between the prospect’s eyes.

It’s a glorious day in a copywriter’s career to ask a client for a customer bio and be rewarded with a buyer persona so detailed you wonder if they’ve been bugging a customer’s phone.

But back in the real world, it’s down to you to scour Amazon reviews…mine Facebook groups….infiltrate Reddit tribes…and run Ask method surveys to work out what will convince people to buy your client’s wares.

This is all good level research.

Great level research is plucking it from the horse’s mouth.

That means speaking to customers in real life.

Whether you do it in the flesh or over the phone (Whatsapp doesn’t count) a two way conversation with a living, breathing human is the best way of getting them to speak off the cuff, rather than in considered soundbites.

You want them to vent. To rage on their nagging pains…their frustration with all the shoddy products they’ve tried before….and how they’ll think twice before falling for clever marketing tricks again.

All you need to do is listen, ask the right questions, and take notes.

Then when you sit down to write, it will be like they’re sat across the table. All you then need to do is write what will convince them you offer the salvation they need. When you can do that, clever wordplay isn’t needed.

3. A Master of Big Ideas, Hooks, and Story

As you progress up the levels eventually you’re going to wade into a saturated market where you have to wrestle a “market sophistication level 5” problem (check out Great Leads by Michael Masterson for more on market sophistication).

This is a brutal place where the market has been plundered to death. A once fertile paradise ravaged with so many false promises that jaded customers have stopped believing any claims you can make.

It’s a place where copywriters become legends, or have their reputation tarnished.

Yet, level 5 problems can be conquered with the right approach.

Ways to do it include:

• Creating a new cause of their pain so you can present your product as a new solution

• Combining 2 or 3 market trends into a new overarching theme

• Being the first to reveal a breakthrough before it’s reached the mainstream

• Explaining how the product works at a deeper level (Joe Sugarman was a master at this)

• Using the power of storytelling, with multiple soap opera swings and sensory language, to take the reader on an emotionally interesting journey. A story that motivates them to stop praying for change but to stride towards a bold new future in which they become the person they want to be viewed as by others (and not just by themselves).

• Harnessing celebrities, Nobel prize winners, NASA, diabolical Nazi experiments, or an Amazonian tribe that diabetes forgot to present a pitch more compelling than the zaniest National Enquirer exposé.

It can take grizzled veterans 6 months or more to develop the big idea, hook, and mechanism with which to take down a level 5 problem.

The good news is that if you’re victorious it can mean having enough coins in the  vault to take the rest of the year off. It can even mean retiring early to down piña coladas on a  beach somewhere (but who wants that).

Want to Know More About Going from Good to Great? Subscribe to David Garfunkel’s Copywriter Podcast Immediately

This post is a condensed list of David Garfunkel’s big 6 traits of a great copywriter, as discussed in episodes 67 and 68 of his Copywriters Podcast.

Mr Garfunkel (I’m not worthy to call him David) is known as the world’s greatest copywriting coach. You’ll soon understand why when you listen to his podcast as he shares insights more valuable than you’ll find in many $5,000+ courses. Yet, bizarrely, you don’t have to pay a dime.

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My Advice to a Copywriter Starting from Zero

A couple of days ago I got a letter from an aspiring copywriter. I sent him an email back with advice on what to do when joining the game from square one. I thought it might be helpful for others in the same situation, so reposting it here:

Hey Joe,

Thanks for your letter.

I’m not currently looking to take on any “copy cubs” (industry term for apprentices), yet there’s a lot you can do to build your skills on your own.

My advice would be to focus on breaking into the US direct response market. I wish I’d learned this sooner, as I spent years writing B2B tech copy. While you can make a good income in B2B tech, when you can write high converting copy that’s directly linked to sales you can make six figures or more.

Gary Halbert (copywriting legend) wrote an excellent article detailing steps you can take on your own to build your knowledge and skills. Set his website as a bookmark on your tablet or phone and read every letter. People paid good money to get this info when it was a print newsletter, and having it available freely online is a steal.

After you’ve done what he recommends, setup a basic website and write advertorials promoting products on Clickbank. You could also build an email list and upsell Clickbank products that way to earn a small income. Then create your own info product (it could be just a 50 page eBook or you could buy it done for you as a private label rights product = PLR) and sell it yourself. That way you’ll get some stats on conversion rates and sales to attract clients.

When you’re starting out it’s a chicken and egg scenario. How do you get clients without a portfolio? Or how do you build a portfolio without clients?

By creating your own site and running your own promos you can solve this problem.

Starting out is tough. Yet as you sent me a letter and followed up with a phone call, I believe you’ll be disciplined and strategic enough to see it through.

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2 Pro Level Tactics for Busting the Feast/Famine Cycle in 2018

Create your own opportunities, instead of waiting for them to arrive

How did the freelancing life treat you this year?

Get a steady flow of clients to keep amassing your cash pile, Scrooge McDuck stylee?

Or find yourself scrambling for change on freelance bidding sites just to cover the rent?

If it’s the latter – I hear you.

I’ve been through more famines than I care to remember…

Times when I’d stare at my inbox praying someone would reply to the hundredth prospecting email I’d sent out that week.

Or thinking I was a fraud and crazy to think people would actually pay me to write for them.

Sometimes it got so bad I’d even look at full-time jobs. Just imagine.

But the most annoying thing is I could have escaped the feast/famine cycle a lot sooner than I did.

That is if I’d implemented two key pro level tactics.

These are tactics I previously had locked away in my eBook on fast tracking your freelance success. But as it’s Christmas, I’ll share them with you here:

1. Attending live events is the best way to find high paying clients who understand marketing and respect what you do
2. Positioning yourself as the “go to” person in a specific skill + niche (e.g. email marketing for vets or webinars for property investors) will focus your marketing activities and rocket your earnings faster than the price of Bitcoin (which is actually dropping as I write, but you get the point)

Now, giving out advice is easy (just ask any of the Facebook gurus making a killing repackaging the techniques of Schwartz or Caples as their own).

But do these tactics work in the real world?

Well, allow me to share how they played out for me at this year’s Copy Chief Live…

Live Events are Where the Big Dogs Hang Out

When you add up the cost of flights to Florida, a room at the Hilton, a new blazer to wow the clients, printing 20 copies of my YouTube Remarketing Generator and networking over nachos, my bill for attending CC Live came to a cool $3,000, or so.

That may sound like a big injection of cash reserves.

But it pails in comparison to the risk another CC member took who gambled their savings to attend, despite seeming cool as a cucumber when I met them at the airport (a gamble which paid off for them in spades, by the way).

Yet had the only benefit of Copy Chief Live been meeting “ethically minded” copywriters at the top of their game, I’d have handed over the money gladly to discover what it takes to be among the best.

Yet luckily for me, I did succeed in getting a new client…

And no ordinary client…

A major A-Lister…

Someone who’s mentored Parris Lampropoulos, Carline Anglade-Cole and many other elite marketers – many of whom are million dollar copywriters today…

I am of course talking about the living legend Clayton Makepeace (I still can’t believe it either).

Based on my samples, he was willing to give me a shot.

My challenge was to write a lead on the impending pensions crisis as a preamble for selling a financial newsletter.

Click below to read it (Just be warned – if you’re retiring soon and haven’t got much squirrelled away it may ruin your Christmas. But don’t worry too much. Japan is in an even worse state, and governments everywhere will likely click the money printers onto turbo and kick the can down the road for another cycle):

 

A Nervous Month of Waiting

After reading through it so many times I lost all objectivity, I hit send and spent the next few weeks living under a cloud of anxiety, self doubt and being convinced Clayton had mixed up my samples with somebody else…

Then one day an email from Clayton arrived…the first of a series, in fact.

Long story short, he said he was interested in hiring me and would I be available for a promo in Feb or March next year!

After throwing my laptop in the air, spinning in circles on the floor and phoning my mum, I replied in the affirmative.

Now, I know I may have jinxed it publishing this.

A lot can happen between now and Feb.

This career changing opportunity could fall through (comes with the territory, unfortunately).

So for now I’m just going to embrace the satisfaction of having someone of Clayton Makepeace’s stature deem my copy worthy of their perusal.

After all, that’s what we all crave – to have someone we respect tell us our copy is good.

3 Daily Habits for Raising Your Game

I didn’t just write this to boast about getting on Clayton’s radar…

I’m hoping my progress can show you where putting in the work, focusing on a niche and attending live events can get you.

I’ve been through the struggles of worrying about paying the bills, dealing with disrespectful low balling clients, hiring lawyers to take non-payers to court and feeling like a fraud seconds after submitting copy for review.

Yet, what got me through, and will continue to do so, is committing to doing three things every day:

1. Studying a winning sales letter
2. Writing at least a couple of pages of sales copy
3. Coming up with a big idea for a new promo

If 2017 didn’t quite hit the heights you were hoping for, make 2018 the year you commit to doing these 3 things every day to raise your game, as well as niche down and attend at least one live event.

If that event is Copy Chief Live 2018, let me know and let’s grab some nachos.

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Next Week Only – Free Live Training from John Carlton and Colin Chung

At Copy Chief Live 2017

You’ve heard of the legendary John Carlton, right?

One of Gary Halbert’s original “road dogs” who’s known as the “most ripped off copywriter” on the planet?

The brains behind the one legged golfer ad and “gun to the head” copywriting?

Of course you have.

So you’ll be interested to know that next week ONLY John’s offering training that normally costs $708 for absolutely FREE! Zilch. Nada. Cero.

The training will teach you 3 vitally important skills:

– How to Discover Your Unique “Copy DNA”… and never run out of ad ideas ever again…
– The Simple “Fill-in-the-Blank” Sentence… that turns your elevator pitch into instant sales!
– 3 Steps Every Close Needs… that turns almost any prospect into a customer-for-life…

>>>Find out more about this incredible free training

John will be presenting each lesson.

You’ll then get individual, personalized coaching from one of his most successful students of all time – Colin Chung.

Colin’s copy has generated over $25 million in financial newsletters, health supplements and business growth.

His clients include big hitters like Newsmax, Agora Financial, Weiss Research, Brian Tracy, Mike Koenigs, Integrative Nutrition, Dr. Al Sears, and more.

As a mentor, he charges $8,500 for training that’s taken multiple copywriters to the six figures per year level.

And he’s willing to give you his time and attention personnally for FREE!

Before I hit publish, I checked their info page and there’s still 21 spots left.

Unless you’ve booked a skiiing trip for next week and can’t cancel, I’d hot foot it over to the registration page to book your seat pronto before they’re all gone.

Nobody knows when John will make an offer like this again (if ever).

So if you’d love to get coaching from two truly A-List copywriters who’ve helped numerous fellow wordsmiths to boost their earnings to six figures and make millions for their clients in sales, reserve your place RIGHT NOW!

>>>Book your slot for FREE coaching from A-Listers John Carlton and Colin Chung

Earnings disclaimer – If you decide to signup for the full Simple Writing System Coaching Program yours truly will get commission.

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Onboarding Process for Copywriting Clients – Set the Ground Rules from Day One

When working with a new client it’s wise to set some ground rules.

Outlining how you work will establish yourself as the adult in the room. It will also avoid mission creep and “just touching base” emails gobbling up your time.

Clients like boundaries too.

If they’ve never worked with a copywriter before (or been burned too many times), they’ll eagerly grab your hand when you offer to guide them through the field of landmines they see stretched before them.

Here’s my process:

1. After I receive your email I’ll send you a questionnaire to identify the scope of the project and how I can help
2. I’ll conduct background research into your business based
3. We schedule a call to discuss your project
4. I’ll send you a proposal
5. If the proposal is accepted, I’ll email you an agreement to digitally sign
6. I’ll send you an invoice for the project
7. I’ll conduct market research into your product, competitors, customers and positioning
8. I’ll send you an outline for your project
9. Once approved, I’ll draft the copy
10. The copy is proofed
11. Copy is delivered
12. Based on your feedback, further editing is conducted to get a final version.
13. We publish the copy and track the results using analytics and heat maps
14. If conversions are below what we needed for the project to be profitable, I’ll work on changes to improve the conversion rate
15. Upon project completion I’ll send you a questionnaire for feedback

Feel free to copy this into your FAQ page or email it to a new client as part of your onboarding process.

Trust me. It will save you a lot of time and hassle down the road.

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Copy Chief Radio Appearance – The YouTube Remarketing Generator

How much are you paying for clicks these days? A dollar? Two dollars? Even higher?

How about your cost per lead? If you’re paying less than $3-5 you’re doing better than marketing heavyweights like Russel Brunson.

The fact is that millions of marketers have entered the marketplace over the last couple of years. And click costs are getting so high that you need a minimum order value of $100 just to break even, let alone make a profit.

Well, I’m here to change all that.

I developed a strategy I’ve called the “YouTube Remarketing Generator”.

It works like this:

1. A prospect Googles “how to solve X problem”
2. If they visit YouTube in the next 15 mins you show them a video related to X problem
3. If they watch for 30 seconds they go into a remarketing list
4. You can retarget them in Google Display for half the normal price

Using this strategy, I’m getting clicks from people trying to solve health problems for just £0.35 ($0.45). That’s half what you’d normally pay on both Google and Facebook.

Even better is that these are clicks from people ACTIVELY trying to solve a problem. They’re what Gary Halbert called “hungry buyers”. So you can expect to get higher conversions and profits from every click.

I break down the entire strategy on Copy Chief Radio with Kevin Rogers.

I’ve also written a report that explains how to implement my YouTube Remarketing Generator strategy step-by-step.

Joe Public has to hand over his email details to get a copy.

However, as you’re one of the savvy people who’s subscribed to the Copywriter’s Crucible already, a mere click on the image below will suffice:

 

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Copy Chief Live 2017 Takeaways

7 Webinar Copywriting Tips – Sell Through Education Instead of Hype

Webinars can be a powerful a way to sell to B2C markets that aren’t yet over exposed

In our marketing bubble, webinars have been the #1 way to sell high ticket items for years. Yet in most markets, their selling power is largely untapped.

B2B folks seem convinced anyway.

A B2B Content Marketing Trends survey placed webinars as the second most effective way to sell, after live events and ahead of videos, blogs and case studies.

Why are they so effective?

• Webinars instantly position you as an expert
• People unfamiliar with webinars don’t feel they’re being sold to
• They can convert leads into sales within 24-48 hours
• They’re highly measurable and can be automated for consistent ROI

Webinars are common in B2B, whereas in B2C they’re still fresh and underutilized.

Let’s say you’re selling a natural health blood sugar balancing supplement. Just imagine how powerful a 40 minute webinar could be at educating people on the causes of high cholesterol, what foods to eat and how to naturally balance their ratio and reduce their risk of heart disease?

A lot of people would rather sit through a presentation that resolves something that’s bugging them than wade through 5,000 words of copy.

Webinars are only effective if you keep people’s attention

The challenge is overcoming the million distractions threatening to pull users a way. Your presentation has to go beyond plain vanilla advice if it’s going to keep people from flicking through Instagram, chatting on Facebook or checking their email. As always, harnessing emotion, intrigue and building tension are the keys to success.

Here are 7 webinar copywriting tips to help you keep viewers engaged and buying at the end:

1. Tell a Story

Stories engage at a deeper emotional level than a straight pitch. It’s how we’ve been wired since cavemen times. Share the background to devising your product or solution. Talk about the struggles, the failures and the Eureka breakthrough that led to your product.

2. Give Them an Easy Win

Give viewers a tactic they can implement almost immediately. This will give them an instant sense of advancing from where they are now. It will also make it easier for them to FEEL what they can gain from your product.

3. Frame the Price

Before you reveal the price, establish the costs of not taking action. Explain how much time and money they’re wasting without your solution. While they could try and figure it out for themselves or buy a cheaper alternative, explain how this will cost them more in the long run.

4. Crush Objections

In every sales letter, VSL and webinar, crushing objections is vital to clinching the sale. Write out a list of  reasons why someone might not buy and then address every one in a clear, objective manner. Then by the end they’ll have no excuses and will only see positives from having your solution in their life.

5. Lead Them Up a Staircase

Imagine your webinar is a staircase. At the start your viewer is at the bottom, struggling with a problem that’s preventing them from advancing in their career or life. Over the course of the webinar your job is to jump them up the steps by revealing what they can do to achieve the salvation that awaits at the top.

6. Track and Optimize

The beauty of webinars is the ability to track and improve their performance. Your goal is to get average order value (AOV) above your cost to acquire customers (CAC). Once you’ve done that then you can open the money hose and potentially scale to six or seven figures.

7. Test Live then Automate

Doing webinars LIVE is the best way to test and perfect your pitch. The interaction, unscripted vibe of live webinars naturally creates greater trust and engagement with your viewers. Just calling out their names and reading their comments has been found to increase sales. Then when you have a winning formula you can switch to automation for a consistent pipeline of sales.

Ready to Grow Your Business with Webinars?

Recently I completed Joel Erway’s Webinar Accelerator Program. Joel gets paid up to $40,000 to write webinars for elite marketers like Russell Brunson. And for them it’s money well spent. Russell generated $10 million from his webinars last year alone.

At $1,997 (it will soon go up to $2,997), Joel’s Webinar Accelerator ain’t cheap.

However, webinars are arguably the best way to sell right now. They’ve got huge potential in under served B2C markets. And you may make your money back on your first webinar project.

So whether you take Joel’s course or figure it out on your own, writing webinars is a high ticket copywriting service to add to your arsenal.

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Live Event Networking Tips for Copywriters to Make Connections in an Extrovert’s World

Just Add Hustle Podcast Interview – 4 Career Crashing Mistakes for Copywriters to Avoid

If you’ve ever wanted to hear my dulcet tones, your lucky day has arrived.

I sat down with Crucible reader and natural health copywriter Paul Buzan (who has the envied position of being one of Parris Lampropoulos’ copy cubs) to share my sage advice on how aspiring copywriters can avoid some of my near career ending blunders, on the madcap journey to where I am now.

This isn’t a podcast where I talk about crushing it. About writing million dollar VSLs (true story), meeting copywriting masters like Mr Drayton Bird or jetting around the world working on a laptop (well, maybe a little bit).

No sirree.

This is a warts and all, no filter confession on what can happen when you launch a copywriting business with no experience, no clients and no portfolio (like I did). And what career crashing speed bumps you can hit on the way.

What you’ll discover:

• What happened when I got sued by a celebrity TV chef (and learned an expensive lesson on the difference between food poisoning and a shellfish virus).
• How my misadventure into “black hat” SEO led me running into trouble with a collective of hackers (and how I resolved it without having my website hacked into oblivion).
• Why you should never guess who your target customer is and how to find out who they really are (following this advice will put you ahead of 90% of copywriters)
• The books I recommend you read multiple times. Why? Because they offer a better education than many of the $970 Facebook promoted courses out there. Times change. But the underlying principles of high converting copy stay the same.

>>>Listen to my Just Add Hustle Podcast interview on career crashing mistakes for copywriters to avoid

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